Overview of EPA Authorities for Natural Resource Managers Developing Aquatic Invasive Species Rapid Response and Management Plans 7
Clean Water Act
What is the Clean Water Act (CWA)?
CWA is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United
States. The statute employs regulatory and nonregulatory tools to achieve the
broad goal of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological
integrity of the nation’s waters so that they can support the protection and
propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water.
CWA regulatory and nonregulatory tools are used to:
reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways
finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities
manage polluted runoff
Currently, many of the tools used for surface water quality protection employ
the watershed approach, which focuses equally on protecting healthy waters
and restoring impaired ones. (For the complete text of the Clean Water Act,
see www.epa.gov/region5/water/pdf/ecwa.pdf.)
In particular, CWA Section 404 might apply to AIS rapid response or control
activities. Section 404, which regulates the discharge of dredged or fill
material, might apply to AIS eradication activities that involve moving dirt or
placing materials into the waters of the United States.
“Pollutant” means
dredged spoil, solid
waste, incinerator residue,
sewage, garbage, sewage
sludge, munitions, wrecked
or discarded equipment,
rock, sand, cellar dirt,
and industrial, municipal,
and agricultural waste
discharged into water.
“Point source” means
any discernible, confined,
and discrete conveyance,
including but not limited to
any pipe, ditch, channel,
tunnel, conduit, well,
discrete fissure, container,
rolling stock, concentrated
animal feeding operation,
or vessel or other
floating craft, from which
pollutants are or may be
discharged.
“Waters of the United States” means:
navigable-in-fact waters
waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide
interstate waters and wetla